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Atlanta Braves prospect Rio Ruiz struggled last year. He worked hard to turn that around this offseason and deserves a chance to win the opening day job at third base. /

In January 2015 the Atlanta Braves traded Kyle Kubitza Anaheim. A week later they traded for Rio Ruiz. In February 2018 Ruiz faces his last shot at becoming the Braves third baseman.

In retrospect the two trades were formulated to essentially add another year’s control over a potential third baseman.

Kyle Kubitza didn’t capitalize on his chances to start for the Atlanta Braves and would be come a minor league free agent after the 2015 season. Rather than simply let him walk away they swapped him for Ricardo Sanchez and Nate Hyatt hoping one of them would provide some future value.

The Braves decided to swap Evan Gattis for prospects and when the Astros expressed interest the Braves asked for Ruiz. At that time Ruiz played in A+ ball and looked like a player on the rise who was blocked in Houston by Alex Bregman.

After his move to the Braves, his path to the majors now clear. All Ruiz had to do was earn the job.

Retrospective Rio

A fourth round pick by Houston in 2012, Ruiz had to earn his job every year. He successfully did in the Astros’ system from 2012 through 2014 posting solid numbers with wRC+ finishes of 115 in 2013 and 119 in 2014.

His home run total stayed in the teens but he exceeded 30 doubles each year suggestion better things lay ahead. The Braves assigned him to AA Mississippi and whether because of the promotion to AA or simply joining a new team, for the first time as a professional he didn’t hit well.

		AVG	OBP	SLG	wRC+	K%
2013	A	.260	.335	.430	115	19.5
2014	A+	.293	.387	.436	119	15.1
2015	AA	.233	.333	.324	91	19.2

Ruiz’ home run output shrunk to five and his doubles output dropped from the low 30s to 21. Given another more time to adjust, he might have corrected himself in AA but that was not to be.

The Braves added him to the 40 man roster to protect him from the Rule Five draft but instead of leaving him in AA, they assigned him to AAA Gwinnett.

This could be Rio Ruiz’ year to break out and claim the Atlanta Braves third base job. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

Atlanta at last

Ruiz performance improved in 2016; his line returned to something resembling his early career norms; .271/.355/.400 with 118 wRC+. That earned him a cup of coffee in September and he came to spring training in 2017 with a chance to claim the vacant third base job for his own.

Instead of breaking camp with Atlanta last year however he headed back to Gwinnett and didn’t see Atlanta again until May 18th.

Over the next 30 games he hit a meager .175/.264/.288 and six weeks after being called up he was back at Gwinnett. Ruiz returned in September to play in 22 games before the season ended. His hitting improved a bit but not enough for anyone to consider him the lead dog in the chase for third base.

Resurgent Rio?

Disappointed with himself and wondering why it seemed everyone forgot about him as they fell in love with teammate Johan Camargo, Rio headed into the offseason determined to turn things around. He told David O’Brien about his approach.

“I was able to reflect on the season, put it in the past and learn from what I did. . . (evaluate) the adjustments that I made and the ones I didn’t and make those adjustments in the offseason.”

Since joining the Braves, Ruiz worked out each offseason at agent Scott Boras’ training complex. He told O’Brien that this year he also worked with hitting coach Doug Latta.

The Swing whisperer

Latta is a proponent of the uppercut swing – some call it the Nike swoosh swing – rather than the traditional downwards swing that tries to created backspin to increase carry. He explained it to Eli Walsh of Golden Gate Express last spring.

“With the right body movement and the right swing plane, the bat will stay in the path of the ball much longer. . . with the body supporting that swing through (the path) essentially it’s more efficient and it’s more powerful.”

Following the 2013 season, Justin Turner worked with Latte to dismantle and rebuild his swing; it seems to have worked for him. Turner went from being a journey utility man released by the Mets to becoming a key cog in the Dodgers success.

Spurred by the success of Turner and realizing it was now or never with the Braves. Ruiz committed himself to Latte’s approach. Ruiz told O’Brien he believes the adjustments he’s made this offseason “. . .have him in a good place with his swing.”

What about the splits?

Last season we heard a lot about Ruiz’ awful L/R split and it was pretty bad; .264/.337/.500 for RHP and .202//.276/.298 against LHP. That’s clearly a platoon player split but Ruiz’ splits weren’t always like that, the drop-off began when he reached AA.

YEAR		AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	TAv
2014 A+	RHP	365	.290	.393	.458	.299
2014 A+	LHP	122	.320	.397	.418	.289

2015 AA	RHP	328	.238	.343	.311	.261
2015 AA	LHP	83	.193	.277	.337	.226

2016 AAA	RHP	347	.294	.375	.458	.291
2016 AAA	LHP	118	.203	.288	.229	.183

Statistics courtesy Baseball Prospectus Selectable Stats

Latta’s approach is designed to keep the bat in the zone longer. To do that a hitter has to stay in against same sided pitchers so it should help even out splits. It did just that for Marlon Byrd .

Before working with Latta his line showed reverse splits that reached as much as 60 points on two occasions. After rebuilding the swing under Latta his splits evened out.

Statcast prefers Ruiz

In full seasons A and above minor league ball, Ruiz BAbip averaged .313. In his two brief major league appearances StatCast recorded put 114 major league pitches put play with a meager.245 BAbip. Those Statcast measure balls in play resulted in a .279 average and a 450 slugging percentage.

Ruiz’ average exit velocity of 88.1 mph combined with his 16 degree launch angle gives him an expected batting average (xBA) of .312 and an expected wOBA (xwOBA) of .359. In other words Ruiz was very unlucky while – as I wrote a month ago – Camargo was extremely lucky.

ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 07: Second baseman Dee Gordon /

That’s a Wrap

Latta’s approach certainly worked for Turner and Byrd, whether Ruiz’ offseason work will create the same kind of renaissance we won’t know for a while. Winter ball should give Camargo an offensive head start this spring. I hope Rio sticks to his plan instead of pressing to catch up.

Defensively I prefer the idea of Camargo as a utility man and Ruiz as a third baseman; Camargo’s tools are more portable than Rio’s.

I’m concerned that the Braves already decided upon their future starting third baseman and the competition turns out to be a facade.

The AJC article by David O’Brien linked earlier says the hope he can play some first base and maybe some corner outfield and they started him at first base today against the Mets. Mark Bowman suggests that Ruiz is a dark horse to make the opening day roster as a utility man.

(Ruiz) might no longer be considered the club’s third baseman of the future . . . (and) might earn a spot on the Opening Day roster and possibly help fill the left field position until Acuna is brought up to the Majors.

While they have no particular knowledge about such decisions, being around the team for so many years does gives them insight.

I’ve been critical of Ruiz in the past but his dedication to turning things around is encouraging. I now think it’s a little soon to give up on Ruiz as a third baseman and hope he gets a fair chance to win the job.

Next: Acuna or later you'll see him

If he learned Latta’s methods well and uses them effectively, we could be in for a very interesting third base battle this spring.

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